Second ‘past-the-post' at his first race start at two years, Jolly Beggar was elevated to first place after it was subsequently established that the winner of the race was in fact three. His two-year-old season culminated with a dead heat in the Karrakatta Plate.
Owned by Mr P.A. Connolly, who did not believe in over-racing horses, Jolly Beggar raced only three times at three years, winning the Western Australian Derby by six lengths and running second to Loch Shiel by a half head in the Perth Cup of that year.
Following a lengthy spell, Jolly Beggar returned at four years to win the Perth Cup and become the first horse to win the Karrakatta Plate (dead-heat), Western Australian Derby and Perth Cup. A feat only emulated by inaugural hall of fame inductee Eurythmic.
At five years, the horse campaigned at the highest level in both South Australia and Victoria, including finishing “under the roses” to run second by a neck in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington. A race many spectators and his owner thought the horse had won.
At six years, Jolly Beggar won the forty-second renewal of the Doncaster Handicap at Randwick. Controlling the race from the outset, the remarkable black stallion from the west easily put pay to the large field. The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “the way that this Jolly Beggar won in 1913 will be handed down to posterity along with other sensational wins”.
Winning his final race at nine years, Jolly Beggar was retired from racing with a record of 11½ wins and 12½ placings from 40 starts across four States.
Jolly Beggar played a major role in the local breeding industry and at the end of 1934 his progeny had won 513 races and amassed nearly £60,000 in stakes. In eleven years he was leading Western Australian sire on seven occasions. Few horses left such an influential legacy on Western Australian racing.
Principal Wins
2yo season
Karrakatta Plate, Ascot 1000m
3yo season
Western Australian Derby, Ascot 2400m
4yo season
All-Aged Stakes, Ascot 1400m
Perth Cup, Ascot 3200m
6yo season
Doncaster Handicap, Randwick 1600m
All-Aged Stakes, Randwick 1600m
7yo season
St. George Stakes, Caulfield 1800m
C.M. Lloyd Stakes, Flemington 1800m
9yo season
December Stakes, Ascot 1800m